﻿1874.] W. E. Iji'ook^—Souio OniUholojlcal Xutes and Gorrectlons. 21-9 



rather say, occasional and not spocific. Of tlie many hundreds of examples ex- 

 amined by me, only three had this yellow bloom on the supercilium. Lord 

 Walden, however, speaks of the bird as being mh-coloured above ! The ash- 

 coloured back in the field-wagtails pertains only to the young and, perhaps, to 

 the female in winter plumage. When the supercilium is ijellow, the back is 

 green in B. jlava. Stephens' bird was probably the female of Bmlytes 

 cifreola, Pallas or the male in autumnal plumage, for this species has a 

 yellow supercilium and an ash-coloured back ; which i?. Jlava, B. cinereoca- 

 pilla, and B. melanocepliala certainly have not. 



There are four distinct yellow field Budytes with olive green backs, 

 and I note them, with short distinguishing characters of the mature male. 



B. Jlava. 



B. cinereocapilla. 



Grey head, broad white super- 

 cihum, grey and white cheeks. 



Gencrallly distributed over the 

 old world and northern half 

 of the new. 



Eastern Europe, India, and 

 China. 



Dark grey head, supercilium 



absent or else very narrow 



and white ; often only a half 



supercilium behind the eye ; || 



cheeks a dark slate colour or 



almost black. This dark 



cheek is the well marked 



peculiarity of the species. 

 B. melanocephala. Pure black head, with very rare- Eastern Europe, India, and 



ly indeed a supercilium, and China. 



then very narrow, like a thin 



white thread. I have twice 



seen examples with this 



thread-like supercilium. The 



black head is a good distinc- 

 tion. 

 B, Rayi, Top of head yellowish olive, 



supercihum bright yellow, 



and cheeks yellow. 



It will thus be seen that the colour of the cheek in summer is alone 

 a sufficient criterion. 



It seems inexplicable to me how so many good ornithologists have 

 confounded these four very distinct species, and lumped them together as i?. 

 Jlava with varieties, or as B. viridis with varieties. 



There are but two yellow-headed marsh wagtails found in all India, 

 and, I believe, in all the world besides, viz. Badijtes calcaratus, Hodgs, — with 

 black back and yellow head, sometimes a greyish patch remaining on the 

 lower back ; and Budytes citreola, Pallas— with grey back and yellow head, 

 also generally a crescentic black band above the shoulders at the hind part 

 * Two examples of this species, as also of Anthus pratensis, wore lately obtained 

 by Dr. Stoliczka in Yarkand. 



Western Europe, North-West 

 Africa, and Central Asia.* 



